The Sectional Crisis and Civil War (1848-1877)

The Sectional Crisis and Civil War (1848-1877)

Slavery-Civil War

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist and political activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad

Summary Objective 

Students will examine the expansion of slavery as a key factor in the domestic and foreign policy decisions of the United States in the 19th century. 

Multiple Choice

At one time or another prior to the Civil War, slavery was called all of the following by its defenders EXCEPT:

• The “peculiar institution”

• A necessary evil

• The “Devil’s necessity”

• A positive good

Domestic Policy

A Slavery was key in the debates about entering the Mexican War and admitting Missouri, Texas, Kansas and California to the Union.

Southern Domestic Policy

The desire to maintain a balance of slave states and free states in the Senate was central to Southern lawmakers’ domestic policy.

Multiple Choice

In the Declaration of Independence, what percentage of enslaved people were included in the line “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

• 0%

• 25%

• 50%

• 75%

Kansas-Nebraska Act

 The Kansas-Nebraska Act and its potential effect on the expansion of slavery was a key event in the sectional crisis. After the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, both Northerners and Southerners rushed to populate Kansas. The violence of “Bleeding Kansas” resulted.

Dred Scott Case

In 1857, Chief Justice Taney wrote the majority decision for the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. Southern enslavers applauded the decision, which they saw as recognizing enslaved people as their property. Northerners were outraged. Taney’s decision established several key precedents related to slavery. The three most important were:

Multiple Choice

Which formally ended slavery in the United States?

• 13th Amendment to Constitution

• Emancipation Proclamation

• The Treaty that ended the Civil War

• Civil rights act of 1968

Supreme Court Ruling

There was nowhere in the United States enslaved people could go to be free. Taney ruled that the status of enslaved people was determined by the laws in their home state; traveling to a free state did not render an enslaved person free (this was the key issue at hand). 

Citizenship

Black people were not citizens of the United States. Because Scott was black, Taney's argument said, he was not a citizen. Because he was not a citizen, he had no right to sue. 

Multiple Choice

Which was the reason the South seceded from the Union?

• To preserve states rights

• To preserve slavery

• To protest taxes

• To avoid rapid industrialization

Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional. According to Taney, the Missouri Compromise restricted slavery in the territories, which Congress did not have the power to do. 

John Brown and Harpers Ferry

By early 1859, Brown was leading raids to free enslaved people in areas where forced labor was still in practice, primarily in the present-day Midwest.

Brown's Raid

The operation began on October 16, 1859, with the planned capture of Colonel Lewis Washington, a distant relative of George Washington, at the former’s estate. The Washington family continued to own enslaved people.

Multiple Choice

Communities of enslaved people created music to...

• Entertain enslavers in the Big House

• Pass the time

• Express dreams and frustrations

• Influence popular culture

John Brown

Lee and his men arrested Brown and transported him to the courthouse in nearby Charles Town, where he was imprisoned until he could be tried. In November, a jury found Brown guilty of treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia.

John Wilkes Booth

Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859, at the age of 59. Among the witnesses to his execution were Lee and the actor and pro-slavery activist John Wilkes Booth.

Open Ended

What does "Harriet Tubman" represent when we talk of African American history?